Saturday, November 5, 2011

CD Review: “Are You Ready” by Sweet–Live!

Celebrating 40 years since the founding of one of the greatest bands to come out of England in the ‘70s, Steve Priest, the bass player of course and founding member of Sweet, assembled an all-star cast to bring the bands music back to the fans.

Sweet was formed in 1968 and had their first hit in ‘71 with Funny, Funny, a bubblegum classic. The b-sides of their bubblegum pop singles, however had more to do with hard rock, ala the Who. These became the more requested tunes in concerts and Sweet evolved into one of the greatest Glam Rock bands of the ‘70s with the signature high pitched back vocal styles which was a left over from their bubblegum days when they had emulated the vocal harmonies of fellow Brit stars, The Hollies. The other eponymous band from the era that used this style was of course, Queen, putting Sweet in good company.

They had thirteen Top 20 hits in the U.K alone during the ‘70s. Following on the success of "Block Buster!" (1973), followed by three consecutive number two hits in "Hell Raiser" (1973), "The Ballroom Blitz" (1973) and "Teenage Rampage" (1974). Their first self-written and produced single "Fox on the Run" (1975) also reached number two on the UK charts.

Fox On The Run

From 1976 on their impact started to decline with their last Top Ten Hit, “Love Is Like Oxygen” in ‘78. After that the band started to fragment and finally called it quits in ‘81.

This excellent CD was recorded live in 2008 after original vocalist and bassist Steve Priest finally bowed to the demand of the fans and assembled a band that could not only do justice to, but even improve on the original sound. He called up an old friend and fellow Brit, classically trained guitarist Stuart Smith (of Sidewinder and Heaven On Earth), drummer extraordinaire and Stuart Smith’s band mate from Heaven On Earth, Brian Onori. The ‘keys’ fell to ex-Crow Stevie Stewart and on lead vocals he nabbed front man Joe Retta. The results were excellent, to say the least.

Their first gig was at rock mecca, the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood in June. they burned the place down and took the show on the road playing festivals far and wide. Moondance Jam in Walker, MN; headlining at the Rock 'n' Resort Festival in N. Lawrence, OH; London, Ontario's Rock The Park; another headlining gig at Peterborough's Festival of Lights; the Common Ground Festival in Lansing, MI; and a benefit concert for victims of California's wildfires at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA. this set was recorded live by the geniuses at Westwood One Mobile Recording Unit at the Morongo Casino in California. Then the tapes went for mastering by Brad Vance at Red Mastering.

After all that effort, what we have is maybe the best live recording of the year. It is an updated sound by The Sweet, and yet true to the hits of the ‘70s. We can only hope to hear more from Steve Priest and Sweet in the future.

Liquida

Earths Biggest Store

Fired

Sirius XM

Alan S. Keesler

About Me

I was born in Pomona, California at a very young age. I had a pretty normal childhood…or I was a pretty normal child hood if mom is telling the story. I was a paperboy and washed cars. I was a soda fountain jock-jerk and a manic mechanic but my first real job was as a labor organizer in a maternity ward. Then, because of the misjudgment of a judge I spent nearly 10 years in the service of our country mostly on KP duty. Our country sure turns out a lot of dirty dishes. I am a past master at pots and pans. They eventually recognized my real talent and let me wander around some very unfriendly places carrying a big radio that didn’t work.

Along the way I took up the bass guitar, jotting down stories, electronic engineering and earned a degree in advanced criminal activities. I spent most of my adult life, if you can call it that, working in the I.T. industry, which I was particularly suited for since we worked in rooms with no windows. On and off I taught in colleges, universities and reform schools as a student teacher…

I like smog, traffic, kinky people, car trouble, noisy neighbors, and crowded seedy bars where I have been known to quote Raymond Chandler as pickup lines. I have always been a voracious reader, everything from the classics, to popular fiction, history to science but I have a special place in my heart for crime fiction, especially hard-boiled detective fiction and noir. I write a book and music review blog for all genres at The Dirty Lowdown. And another dedicated to Crime Fiction and all things Noir called Crimeways. It’s named after the magazine that appeared in the Kenneth Fearing classic, The Big Clock. There I write scholarly reviews of the classic hard boiled, noir and crime fiction books from the 20's through today. Mostly I drool over the salacious pictures on the covers.